Taxpayers face delays, inconvenience in BIR process, document handling

The deadline for the filing of income tax return at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is just a few days away but transactions are all-year-round that taxpayers often face delays and inconvenience of returning to the office several times to process documents.

According to Darlene Cay’s special report "Kontra Red Tape" on  “24 Oras” on Monday, the Revenue District Office (RDO) review of documents are completed in a process called verification of records for transactions such as transfer of a business.

This should take only a couple of hours, but for Angelita, it took her four days just to complete the documents for her Tax Identification Number at an RDO in Cavite, even though she submitted the requirements online.

She waited for six hours at the RDO, but there were times, she missed the cut-off. Now that she has her TIN, she needs to submit another set of requirements online to get the ID.

Meanwhile, Grace has been going back and forth to the BIR office to arrange the verification and update of her business.

Sharing her frustration, Grace said BIR should have listed all the requirements for her to submit them all at once in order to save time.

At an RDO in Batangas, Nica (not her real name) shared that she has been going back and forth for four days just to complete the business registration of her sari-sari store.

She tried completing it online, but cannot do so since she needs to update her details.

This prompted her to go to the RDO, but she did not make it to the cut-off. When she returned, the system was offline for an indefinite period of time. She got her business registration on the fourth day after she was told that her requirements were incomplete the day before.

Nica said her transaction could have been done in one day.

Based on the list released by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), BIR ranked third in the Top 10 most complained-about government agencies in the country.

Of the 336 complaints received by the BIR, 59 are ARTA-related.

The violations include failure to process requirements on time, cases requiring policy or regulatory review, and not attending to applicants during working hours.

Raymond Aguilar, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said there is still room to simplify the BIR’s transactions.

“Sometimes you have to go through so many channels. Trying to solve what issues they have is very complex. The requirements for all the documents is not easy. And it disrupts your day-to-day operations. One of the issues with BIR is the redundant requirement of documents after documents. Whenever there is red tape, whenever there are delays, there is room for corruption. Di ba? Pabilisan natin ito,” he said.

The BIR has acknowledged that there are times when the expected level of service is not met, adding that they take feedback from ARTA to identify gaps and improve the taxpayer experience.

Out of the 336 complaints filed against the BIR, 330 have already been resolved.

BIR also launched the BIR DARE Reform Agenda in January 2026 to address the issues highlighted by the ARTA report.

The initiatives include 27 ongoing digitization projects within the agency.

“Hindi naman namin itinatanggi na talagang may mga pagkakataon na down yung ORUS o yung Online Registration and Update System, and priority natin yan. Ini-enhance natin ’yan para maiwasan nga ’yung mga times na down siya sa system,” BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza said.

(We do not deny that there are times when the ORUS, the Online Registration and Update System, is down. We are enhancing that to avoid those times when the system is down.)

“So 'yun naman talaga ang ultimate goal na as much as possible, kung maaari 100% ng BIR processes ay digital na. Wala nang face-to-face interactions para maiwasan nga yung corruption,” he added.

(Our ultimate goal is to digitalize, if possible, 100% of BIR processes. There will be no face-to-face interactions to avoid corruption.)

The BIR will also look for ways to streamline and simplify the system, such as reducing the required documents, limiting taxpayers to receiving only one letter of authority per taxable year, and further expanding taxpayer education.

The agency added that they are also ready to assist the three taxpayers mentioned in Darlene Cay's report by reviewing their cases and addressing the issues they raised.

“Hopefully, with the reforms that we are doing, may pag-unawa kami sa mga taxpayers na sana mabago ang kanilang perception. Una, makita nila ang BIR na katuwang nila sa pagpapaunlad ng ating bayan at maunawaan nila na ang pagbabayad ng buwis ay hindi dapat i-consider na burden, kundi isang source of pride, isang kontribusyon na ipagmamalaki nila sa nation building,” Mendoza said.

(Hopefully, with the reforms we are implementing, taxpayers will understand and change their perception. First, they should see the BIR as their partner in the development of the country and realize that paying taxes should not be seen as a burden, but as a source of pride, a contribution they can take pride in for nation-building.)

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), in 2025, collected ₱3 trillion, which will be used to fund public services such as education, hospitals, infrastructure, flood control projects, and government employees’ salaries. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/BAP, GMA News